The issues that we have been exploring all semester bring us to one central question. Are we heading faster to a future that seemed in the far distance? Will corporations dominate and deteriorate the world as we know it? And if so, how will we stop it? Not only does cyberpunk warn us about this future, but it may also be giving us solutions on how to stop it from happening. From the Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner to the pill funders in Machinehood, we see the damage that large corporations can have on the function of our society as a whole. One of the biggest ways we see corporation domination is in the realm of privacy and surveillance capitalism, a space that may too soon be out of our control.
When you use services such as Google and Facebook, there are agreements to the use of your data and personal information that you sign off on every time. In a book written about the current surveillance state, Shoshana Zubodf writes that the data gathered by these companies is used by other companies to predict and influence our behaviors (Kavenna, 2019). Though you may not be aware that you are allowing the use of your data by other companies, if you read the lengthy privacy statements that many just accept, you will find your acceptance to these rules. More corporations such as Tik Tok use algorithms to gather data, facial expressions, locations, and voiceprints to build profiles on who they think that you are and what you would like (10 Eye-Opening Examples of Surveillance Capitalism in Action - VOICES of CAPITALISM, 2025). Though we may like this because it shows us funny videos, what happens when the algorithm changes? In fact, after most of TikTok was bought by the U.S. the privacy policy changed to allow precise location data if you have your location services on (Lin, 2026). This comes at a time where ICE is being deployed in heavily immigrant populated areas and people are being killed by said ICE agents. It makes it that much scarier that there is a way to find your exact location just by trying to find entertainment through Tik Tok.
Though not exactly the same, the ideas of constantly tracking and using our data to increase their ad revenue, track our locations, and push propaganda into our lives is reminiscent of the pill funders in Machinehood. In the novel, the pill funders are an amalgamation of all of the wealthy corporations and wealthy people who essentially control the world by making them reliant on their pills. In a similar way, there is a group of a few corporations that are controlling what we see, hear, and interact with through privacy policies. Because of this comparison, I am led to believe that we are not as far away from a cyberpunk corporation-controlled future as it seems. Specifically under the Trump presidency, we stray further and further away from a world where we have personal autonomy and closer to a world with heavy cyberpunk surveillance.
AI was not used in any form of creating this post. All words, thoughts, and plannings are from myself.
10 Eye-Opening Examples of Surveillance Capitalism in Action - VOICES OF CAPITALISM. (2025, October 3). Inside Political Science. https://voicesofcapitalism.com/surveillance-capitalism-examples/
Kavenna, J. (2019, October 4). Shoshana Zuboff: “Surveillance capitalism is an assault on human autonomy.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/04/shoshana-zuboff-surveillance-capitalism-assault-human-automomy-digital-privacy
Lin, P. (2026, January 27). Under U.S. Ownership, TikTok Poses an Even Greater Threat to Americans’ Privacy. Harvard.edu. https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr-ryan/our-work/carr-ryan-commentary/under-us-ownership-tiktok-poses-even-greater-threat